


Alexander Kent

by CatOnALark



Category: Smallville
Genre: Found Family, gratuitously hopeful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29281032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatOnALark/pseuds/CatOnALark
Summary: What if, on that dark and stormy night, Lex had walked into the room with his mother and Baby Julian ten minutes earlier? What if he had snatched up his baby brother and swore in that moment that he would always protect him? What if he ran for help to the man who carried him to safety during the meteor shower?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Alexander Kent

Lex was worried about his baby brother. True, it was storming and he was a little worried Julian might be frightened by the thunder, but more than that it was his parents’ fight. And his mother's face when his father had snapped….  
Julian is fine. Mom just needs some rest and she'll be fine, Lex told himself sternly. He tried to push the worries away and focus on his math homework.  
But the worry wouldn't let him go, and so finally he set his pencil down just to check. He hurried down the long hallways in the mansion, and the more he walked the more he worried, so by the time he reached Julian's nursery he was running.  
He saw his Mom by the crib, and his shoulders released a little tension. He saw the pillow in her hands, and his Mom turned towards him, softly whispering "he'll be happy after this. He'll be safe." She had leaned towards Julian, and panic had overtaken Lex. He'd shouted, and his Dad's footsteps had shaken the hallway, and this is where the memory had fractured. He knew his Dad had screamed, and thrown a glass at his mother, and Lex had shielded her, and he had the scar on his shoulder to prove it. Mostly though, the main thing he remembered from that night had been that he had been so worried about Julian he'd run out the front door without an umbrella, and he’d almost slipped in the mud, but he’d made it down the long driveway and onto the road without falling.

He didn’t really remember running to the Kent's, or even choosing to run there. He thinks he remembers thinking about what it felt like when Jonathan Kent had carried him to the hospital after the meteor showers, and wanting that feeling again. He leaned forward over Julian to try to shield him from the rain, and he ran. 

Jonathan was asleep. He went to bed fairly early, and Clark had had a lot of nightmares that week. That night, Martha was taking a little time to read before going to sleep, and it’s why she heard the rapping on the front door. She glanced over at Jonathan, deciding to let him sleep, and went to open the door. 

When she found a ten-year old boy crying on her front porch with a bleeding shoulder and soaked with rain, she regretted not bringing Jonathan with her. She brought Lex inside, and situated him at the kitchen table with a cup of hot cocoa and held Julian while she slipped into the bedroom to wake up Jonathan. 

“Jonathan? Honey? It happened again. Time to wake up and deal with the cornfield.” 

They called the police that night, even though Lex begged them not to, because his Dad would hear about it. But with Lex crying and covered with blood, the Kents made a pretty compelling case for Lex and Julian to spend the night, and the boys were finally settled down for sleep in the spare bedroom. Jonathan had to make a makeshift crib, and Martha had given Lex some of Jonathan’s pajamas, which were comically oversized, but eventually everyone slept. 

The next day, when Nell had taken the kids for a picnic, Jonathan and Martha sat at the kitchen table over soup that was quickly growing cold and discussed the events of the night before. 

“Martha, we’re still barely protecting Clark’s secret. We don’t know when he’s going to accidentally lift a tractor or break the screen door off by running too fast. I don’t think we can add two more children to our lives.” 

“I hear you, but none of that changes the fact that that little boy showed up on our doorstep last night crying and this is the only place he felt like his baby brother would be safe. How could we possibly send him back out into the dark alone?” 

“We can’t save everyone, Martha. Besides, it’s a risk making Lionel Luthor angry after what happened two years ago. If we mess with his family it’s likely mutually assured destruction.” 

“We need to call my father, because we are out of our depth trying to fight Lionel ourselves. But just because it’s a mess, John, doesn’t mean we can walk away from this one. We didn’t when we found Clark in that corn field, and how are we going to tell him to be kind and to help others if he sees us walk away from someone who needs us now? I don’t want those boys to leave until we know they’re safe.” 

They talked about it for another three days, but in his heart Jonathan Kent knew that Lex and Julian would be staying with them for a while, as much as it made him afraid for Clark. And so spending the night turned into a week, which turned into a foster placement, which turned into court visits, which turned into Martha packing lunches for three boys instead of one, which turned into school plays and science fairs and a much more cramped farm house. 

Lex was always a little worried about his brothers. Making sure Julian was wearing kneepads when he skated and pestering Clark about whether he was eating his greens was part of his routine now, but he didn’t run down the hall to check if Julian was still breathing anymore at night.


End file.
